Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Sep 1995
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995natur.377..326m&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 377, Issue 6547, pp. 326-329 (1995).
Mathematics
Logic
26
Scientific paper
RARE gases have proved to be particularly useful in modelling the early evolution of the Earth's atmosphere1-3. But it is not straightforward to extend this approach to the main volatile species (such as hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen) that comprise the atmosphere, hydrosphere and sediments, as these elements are chemically reactive and may have experienced different geodynamic histories. A way around this problem is to calibrate major volatile species relative to rare gases4-8. Here I use a recently developed static mass spectrometry method that allows simultaneous analysis of nitrogen, carbon, helium and argon9 to analyse gases trapped in vesicles of mid-ocean-ridge basalt glasses. The results show that the abundances of N2 and 40Ar (a radiogenic isotope that has been produced through geological time by the decay of 40K in the solid Earth) correlate well over several orders of magnitude, suggesting that the N2/40Ar ratio in the mantle source is near-constant and comparable to the present-day atmospheric value. In contrast, the inferred mantle N2/36Ar ratio (where 36Ar is a primordial isotope of argon) is two orders of magnitude higher than the atmospheric ratio. This observation, when combined with argon isotope systematics, allows a better estimate to be made of the nitrogen content of the mantle.
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